Arizona Road Trip

Sue and I took a road trip to the Southwestern corner of Arizona last week. We had planned to drive up through Phoenix to Sedona, Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Upon arrival in Wellton, we discovered that a blizzard had closed Interstates 17 and 40, our planned route. Time to regroup. We decided to follow the Colorado River north on Highway 95. I haven't been on that road in over 30 years!  Some things are exactly the same and some things have changed unbelievably.

Sunrise in the desert can be spectacular. This one was!

I know it looks like I got stuck, but actually I'm using the headlights to illuminate
the Ocotillo Cactus and desert floor. 

"DANGER- MILITARY RESERVATION- NO TRESPASSING- DANGEROUS EXPLOSIVES- LASER HAZARD AREA" I'm used to jumping fences into private property to take pics but this message will give you second thoughts. 

Self Portrait

Fifty five miles up Highway 95 thru the Yuma Proving Ground
and another 10 miles of dirt road to the Castle Dome area,
home of the Castle Dome Mining Museum and Ghost Town.
At one time these were the biggest silver and later lead producing mines in
Arizona.  Not the easiest existence with extreme heat, 
extreme cold, and Apache Indians but life was made somewhat easier 
by the highest number of bars per capita in the State.

Sue was trying to be a good sport in the mid-thirties temperatures.
She did much better after she found a saloon to block the wind.
Try as she might, she couldn't find any wine behind the bar.

The rock formation behind the church is "Castle Dome."

View from the church window.

Old dynamite boxes from the mines.

On to Parker where very little has changed there since my last visit 30 years ago and

 on to Lake Havasu City to spend the night. They spent the entire 

30 years building in Havasu. 

I wouldn't have recognized the place had it not been for the London Bridge.

Sunrise from the bank of the Colorado River, just down from the bridge.

We took a detour off Interstate 40 on old Highway 66 and found some 

great remnants of an earlier time.